Vows
by dooder's nin
Summary: Secretive behavior and strange details make everyone reach the impossible conclusion that Jackson and Holt are actually planning his wedding, but not to Frankie. Confrontations only end in more questions and hurt, Jackson and Holt keeping answers silent. Frankie's faith beings to falter - "Then do what you said you liked to do – listen to my heartbeat. You can tell when I'm lying."


The past week would have been like any other for the friends if not for the fact that one of the group seemed to be bailing on their plans more than he – either version of him – normally might have due to their dual nature. It wouldn't have been so bad if either Jackson or Holt would explain his secretive nature, but not even Frankie was able to get anything out of him. If anything, he seemed to be avoiding her at all costs to the point where she was seriously wondering whether or not to worry about the two of them.

"Honestly guys, he's not like himself…or Holt." Frankie said as she sat with the rest of the girls at the maul. They were drinking their coffee together after having spent the majority of the day browsing and shopping through the various stores. Cleo and Draculaura, as usual, had amassed the largest number of bags before they decided to take a break. Their trip had started out as an attempt to get Jackson or Holt to go see a movie with them, the guys having split from the girls afterward to go do their own thing.

"I'm sure that there was some really good explanation for why he missed again." Lagoona tried to comfort her friend, although her own doubt was clear in her voice. "You sure Heath hasn't had anything to say about this? I mean, they do talk with each other a lot." She said, blowing on her drink before taking a sip.

Frankie gave a little sigh. "I have talked with Heath – that's the problem. I know he may not be the most observant, but even he was able to pick up on little things that he found odd, like how Jackson would end his conversations on the phone as soon as he walked in. Holt even banned him from helping him for the next couple of weeks". Normally he would always let his cousin do something with him, even if he was a little temperamental in how his music was to be handled. But Heath wasn't able to get an actual answer out of either personality and so has been just as curious and bummed about his cousin's apparent newfound desire to distance himself from him and the others.

"There wouldn't be any reason like…relationship troubles…to cause him to be more distant lately, would there?" Cleo asked in her typical lack of regard for considering the reactions emotionally of such a question. Frankie's eyes widened as she looked over at her friend, Ghoulia moaning something about Cleo needing to be a little more tactful in what she said. Clawdeen rolled her eyes and Draculaura just shook her head while the mummy princess simply shrugged.

"Not to worry. He try very hard to get you to be with him and work to keep relationship going – he not be doing anything unimportant. More like he be trying to handle something on his own." Abbey said in an attempt to halt any panicking from her friend who undoubtedly had been questioning the very same thing for a while now. "Besides. Heath say he will be following him today for answers with Deuce. They might have found out what he be up to by now."

"I hope so." Clawdeen said, crossing her arms as she reclined in her chair. "This is getting to be old news and we all need to stress less." She said, turning to her best friend for support. Draculaura nodded and finished her drink. "We should all head out anyway. We're supposed to be meeting up with the guys back at the chocolate store by the exit in a few minutes. We can find out how well their sleuthing went." She said, the others standing up to head back out too. spotting the guys talking over by the exit in what looked like an argument, their concern grew as the conversation abruptly ended once they made their way over.

"Everything alright?" Cleo asked as Deuce grabbed her bags from her out of habit and started to head out. Clawd and Gil looked at each other nervously as though trying to decide what they should share with the girls.

"Come on already – spit it out!" Clawdeen growled, smacking her brother on the arm. He flinched and shot her a look of displeasure at her typical gruff behavior with him. "I'm not the one who saw anything so could you leave me alone for once!" he growled back at her. Draculaura rubbed his arm and made a sympathetic noise to his predicament, the tension leaving him almost immediately as he let his girlfriend lean into him more. Clawdeen rolled her eyes but looked to the other guys.

"Hey, where's Heath?" Frankie asked, noticing for the first time that their elemental friend wasn't with them. "Shouldn't we wait so he's not stranded here?"

"He left with Holt earlier." Deuce answered as he put Cleo's and Ghoulia's bags into the trunk of his car. The girls winced at that information, knowing that it meant that their undercover mission had definitely been discovered – it was only a matter of exactly when that they had been spotted. "And the dude was not pleased at all that he ran into us here. We thought for a minute there that he might actually start breaking stuff again." Clawd said before the group split up to their separate cars.

"Ooh, what happened? Did you find out anything?" Draculaura asked eagerly, Frankie looking ready to start berating them too in her anxiety.

"We spotted Jackson coming out of a fancy suit store and followed him until he met up with some ghoul in the food court. They had lunch together but we couldn't tell what they were saying…they looked awfully friendly though. Jackson even gave her a bunch of flowers he had been carrying to her." Gil said, having had enough of the girls' staring at them and giving in. Clawd smacked him on the shoulder, Gil wincing a little.

"W-what?" Frankie asked timidly, eyes wide and tearing up at the news. "What else?" she asked, shaking her head to keep focused. Looking between the guys, she began to get angry when no answer seemed to be coming. "Tell me!" she said, nearly shouting at them.

"Okay, okay…" Deuce said, motioning with his hands to signal her to calm down long enough for them to talk. He could see the other ghouls also looking like they were about to start shouting too, finding himself amazed that they hadn't already all started talking at once. He figured that this very un-Jackson-like behavior must have left them speechless.

"If it makes you feel any better, it wasn't like any good bouquet – there were a bunch of different kinds of flowers and the ghoul pulled the bouquet apart to look at them all individually anyway." He began, but could see from Cleo's expression that his commentary wasn't being appreciated by Frankie who looked like she couldn't decide what emotion to focus on at the moment.

"We trailed him for a little longer as he and that ghoul entered some dance studio. They were in there for a while – apparently Jackson is learning how to dance." Deuce said, shrugging a little at their discovery. "Maybe they're just dance partners or something…." Lagoona suggested, although Frankie still didn't seem all that convinced.

"This doesn't explain how Heath got caught though." Dracularua pointed out. Clawd nodded and looked to Deuce who sighed upon realizing he'd been appointed reporter. "Jackson triggered Holt at some point 'cuz when he came out, Holt and the girl made their way over to the music store to look around. We got close enough to hear something about planning the reception and to make sure Holt followed all the steps for something – that he could only pick out a few of his own things but that he wouldn't be able to dj the thing. Unfortunately, getting that close meant Heath nearly knocked over some of the instrument stands and his attempts to set them up again drew even Holt away from the music." Deuce said, shaking his head as he thought back on that disaster.

"I take it Holt didn't like being spied on by you guys." Clawdeen said, finding a little amusement in all of this even if Frankie was still on edge processing this information. Clawd gave a little bark of laughter. "Not at all – talking about us invading his privacy and not trusting him and a bunch of other stuff before the ghoul managed to hold him at bay. But he basically demanded Heath stick around in order for the rest of us to get back to you girls." Clawd said sheepishly, noticing the unimpressed look his girlfriend shot him.

"Some tough guys you are – you just left him behind?" Draculaura asked, Clawd looking to Gil for support but Lagoona's crossed arms and stance indicated that she was wondering the same thing of her boyfriend.

"Wait a minute. We can get to that later." Frankie said, waving frantically with her arms. "Did you learn anything about this ghoul or why my boyfriend seems to have been so clingy with her?" she asked, anger replacing the shock and grief over her boyfriend's sneaky behavior. She recalled a few times when he had been in this position due to misunderstandings on his part, but she never thought she would find herself questioning what was going on between the two of them.

"No dude…uh, dudette. We didn't stick around very long. We've all experienced what can happen when you make Holt mad, and we definitely did that today – we figure he'll go easy on family…right?" Deuce said, Cleo rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's behavior.

"But that doesn't mean we didn't see…" Gil started to say before Clawd roughly elbowed him to get him to stop talking. But the damage had been done and Frankie grabbed Gil's jacket to get him to face her. "What Gil? What else don't I know?" she asked, making the water monster flinch back under her interrogation of him. Lagoona stepped in to help resolve the tension, Frankie easing up and letting him go with a sigh as she looked on the verge of crying.

"Well…the girl said something about keeping to his word and then she kissed him on the cheek before…" Gil began, only to pause briefly as Frankie made a sound reminiscent of a squeak, "…before Holt returned the kiss on her cheek. But he didn't seem too happy about having to do that." He said, hoping that the last bit of information might help Frankie. But he could tell that hearing that was the last straw for her and Frankie began sparking from her bolts as she leaned into Abbey for support.

"Must be explanation – both Jackson and Holt make very clear they love you Frankie. If he not telling you something, it must be because he thinking it's for your own good." She said, rubbing her friend's back. "Is stupid – but he probably only trying to not hurt you…" she said, grimacing as one of Frankie's sparks shocked her.

"Well that didn't work out very well, did it?!" Frankie bawled, leaning back to stand straight. "That's it – I need to talk to him and find out what's going on!" Frankie said, sniffling a few times.

"I want to know what sort of reception they're talking about. It must be something significant to have to learn how to dance like that and get a new suit." Cleo said, tapping her chin as she thought. Ghoulia also looked deep in thought before brightening up and moaning something to Cleo. Cleo's eyes widened and she looked sharply at Ghoulia, the others gasping too.

"A wedding! What makes you jump to that conclusion?" Cleo asked, Frankie looking even more confused now. Ghoulia moaned again, gesturing as wildly as a zombie could with her hands.

"That suit place you guys were talking about is attached to the bridal store, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's getting a suit for that reason." Lagoona said, not sure why their usually logical friend might make such a leap in thinking.

"But those flowers and the dance lessons and talking about a reception that Holt can only supervise and not actually dj…that's got to be more than somebody's birthday party bash he's working on." Clawdeen said, her brother nodding along with her in agreement. "What reason would there be for both Jackson and Holt to learn whatever this ghoul's trying to get him to do? Especially if Holt's going along with not being able to play with his music."

"You know what? Let's not jump to any conclusions before we actually talk with the guy." Deuce said, attempting to usher the girls into the cars. "We can stop by his house on the way back with some sort of excuse. You can ask him all you want then Frankie." He said, Frankie nodding and getting into a car with her friends.

* * *

Arriving at Holt and Jackson's house, the friends pulled up to see Holt and Heath still arguing outside on the lawn. They had probably been kicked out of the house for Holt's loud nature by his mother, but it served to avoid any awkward attempts to get him to come out and talk with them.

"Oh great! Just what I need! Yo! Get off my lawn – this ain't no parking lot. Just leave me to take care of my business alone, alright?!" Holt shouted as he spotted three cars parking alongside the curb and Deuce, Cleo, Ghoulia and Clawdeen getting out of Deuce's car. Deuce slammed his door shut, his own irritation making its way to the front.

"Dude, calm down already! You two are going to set the entire street on fire if you don't watch what you're doing!" He yelled back at Holt, who matched his cousin's appearance in flaming hair if only slightly less voluminous than his fully elemental cousin. Holt just growled and made to storm away, stopping mid-stride as he spotted Frankie getting out of the car she rode in.

"Holt!" Frankie yelled, marching over to her boyfriend whose flames began to die down. They all breathed a sigh of relief at that, Heath letting his own flaming hair and hands go out as he watched his cousin warily. "Holt, you and I need to talk. Right. Now." Frankie said, putting a large amount of emphasis on the last two to get her point across. Holt looked as though he wasn't sure what to do, beginning to breathe heavily as he looked up and down between Franke and anywhere else.

"No Frankie. Not now. I can't…" Holt began to say to Frankie but Frankie shoved him, forcing him to step back a little from the blow. "Look Frankie…I know you're gettin' worried and all but let me tell ya that this isn't somethin' to…"

"You will talk to me right now and answer my questions Holt. If you won't, I'll make Jackson answer me. And I'll take his headphones until I hear what I need to hear." She said, not thinking about what she was saying in her shock and anger. Normally she wouldn't ever say something so hurtful to either one of her boyfriend's personalities that might make either think she was placing one over the other. Her more caring nature and desire to be understanding normally would have had her attempting to simply and calmly talk to Holt, but her being hurt affected her thinking. All she knew at that point in time was that she didn't want to believe that her boyfriend might have been seeing someone on the side and not getting any answers from anybody was seriously impairing her judgement.

Holt looked heartbroken at hearing what Frankie threatened. "Then go home Frankie." He said softly, looking directly into her eyes. "Jackson won't be able to explain anything to you right now either." He said, turning away to head inside, pushing Heath out of his way.

"Does this have anything to do with the wedding?" Abbey shouted to him, hoping to cause him to pause long enough for somebody to block his path and keep him from literally shutting them out completely. As expected Holt abruptly turned around to glare at the yeti before stalking back over to her. "How do you know about that?" he growled out to her, but Abbey didn't have the same reservations about standing her ground as the other ghouls.

"So it's true?" Frankie asked, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Holt, how could this…just explain what's going on. Wedding guests don't go through all the trouble and planning that you seem to be doing." She said, her tone pleading with him to explain. Holt huffed and shook his head, his hair starting to flame again.

"That's because I'm not a guest, I'm…" he began to snap at her before apparently realizing what he was about to do and catching himself. "Look – everything's already been arranged so just go already!" he said, attempting to physically shove his friends back and nearly succeeding before Heath and Deuce got in his way.

"Holt…" Frankie implored, "You can't possibly mean…but we're…Holt, I deserve to know what's going on. I'm you're girlfr…"

"No. Frankie. Don't say it." Holt said, brushing off his cousin and friend. "Until the end of the week, you are NOT my girlfriend and I have no girlfriend." He said, staring down Frankie as he spoke. "I'll give you your answers at the end of the week. Trust me." He said before sprinting across the lawn and into his house before anyone could keep him lingering outside.

Frankie just stood there numbly on the lawn, staring after where Holt had been standing before he said what he did to her. "Did we just…is he…." She mumbled, tears silently falling down her face. "Is he really getting married and I…" she said, falling to her knees and holding herself.

"He can't be getting married; he's too young for that!" Clawdeen said in confusion. "There has to be something else."

Draculaura and Lagoona walked over to their sobbing friend, helping her to stand and head back over to their cars. They were whispering soothing words to try and help Frankie, but it didn't seem to be doing much good. "You can stay over at my house tonight, okay. You shouldn't be alone." Draculaura said, letting Frankie rest her head on the vampire's shoulder.

"Whoa…Heath…he can't actually be getting married right now, can he?" Deuce said, turning to the elemental. But Heath looked just as stunned at the news, not having heard anything slip through his parent's conversation, although he was sure that such a subject would be the topic of conversation for days.

"Well…um…technically he's old enough in this state, I think. It might be possible for him to be marrying someone." Heath said as they walked back to their cars, turning back to look at Jackson watching them from his window. He was tempted to just barge inside, certain he could make Jackson talk, but thought that now was not the time with Frankie the way she was. He turned back to talk with Deuce, Gil and Lagoona, the others having already gotten inside their cars. "I never heard about Jackson or Holt having been in any sort of arranged marriage – my side of the family hasn't done that in forever, but maybe his dad had something to do with it. I just don't know guys and it doesn't seem like he'll talk to anybody, not even me." Heath said, sounding defeated.

"Let's just head home and we'll see what we can do tomorrow at school." Gil said. "You need a ride Heath?"

Heath shook his head, looking gloomily away from his cousin's house as Jackson stepped away from the window. "No. I need to walk this off. I'll see you all tomorrow." He said, brushing them aside to walk the short distance from his cousin's house to his, leaving the others to watch him as they too pulled away with more questions than answers.

* * *

The next day at school was tense for everyone, Jackson being stiffer with his wording to the others and Frankie barely holding it together it seemed. It was quite literally tearing her apart, as she and her friends found Frankie to repeatedly lose track of her limbs at different points in the day. It had gotten so noticeable, that one of their teachers suggested she and one of her friends take a breather out in the hall to get herself together again.

"Oh, Draculaura. I don't know what I'm gonna do." Frankie said as she tied the stiches again to reconnect her foot. "I know there's something else he's not saying and I can't believe he's just going to go marry some girl at the end of the week without explaining anything but…I…" she trailed off, her bottom lip quivering as tears threatened to fall down her face. Draculaura patted her friend on the back as she let Frankie lean into her. Of all her friends, Frankie was glad that Draculaura had chosen to sit with her, knowing that she would be the most understanding and possibly insightful into relationship problems.

"It'll be okay Frankie. We can find out when the wedding is supposed to be and where and then you and he can have it out for real." Draculaura said. "By then he should be able to say something to you about this arranged marriage. We'll get some answers for you." The vampire soothed her friend, unaware that their very private conversation had been overheard by a roaming werecat. Torelai hid her gasp as she listened in on Frankie's grief, smirking at the possibilities such gossip could produce. As ridiculous to her as the thought was that the school's normie – or half-normie as he liked to remind the monsters – had a steady girlfriend, the fact that he was apparently all set to get married to someone else by the end of the week was shocking enough for her to actually pause a moment before simply sending the text to Spectra for the ghost ghoul to spread. She figured that if she wasn't completely right in what she heard, people would be less ready to argue with her than if Torelai were the one to spread the news. After all, it wouldn't be the first time that there were gaps in the information stream that the spectral student had filled in with her own creative spin on things.

Predictably, Spectra took the story and ran with it, immediately sending texts out to anyone who had signed up for the Ghostly Gossip. As the bell rang, the students checked their phones, including Frankie. "Oh no!" She wailed as Dracualura and the rest of her friends also checked their phones. "How does she do that? This is horrible. I don't think I can get through the rest of the day with everybody talking about this." Frankie said, slumping forward into her locker as though to hide. Once again, Draculaura patted her on the back. "Come on.. Next period is a free period. You can fang out in the bell tower if you want – no one will be around there to bother you." She said, guiding Frankie to her usual hideaway, knowing that her friend needed it more than her at the moment.

As they were walking away, Jackson watched them go with a likewise gloomy and stressed out expression. "Okay cuz', you sure you don't want to spill yet?" Heath said, walking over to his cousin without his usual goofy demeanor. At least for the most part, since there had been a few times during the day where he had inadvertently caused a few sprinklers to go off during their Dead Languages class which had washed away the notes on the blackboard.

"I told you before – not right now. But I'll admit you are persistent." Jackson grumbled, doing his best to try and avoid the topic. But Heath simply handed him his phone, Jackson taking it with a curious look on his face before reading what was on it. Immediately he understood why Heath thought that he might be a little more forthcoming with information, considering the whole school seemed to also think he was getting married.

"How on earth did this…what made you all….ugh…Heath! Did you have anything to do with this, 'cuz I still can't say anything right now. At least I don't…argh…" Jackson grumbled, handing his cousin his phone before slamming his locker door with all the hidden force that people tended to forget he had. Jackson stormed off, leaving his cousin to race after him in an attempt to try and get him to talk again, but Jackson was able to slip into one of the open classrooms until he passed before heading out again. He couldn't believe his luck at what had happened, having previously thought that he had been managing things pretty well before-hand. But once again, he found that things spiraled far out of his control yet he couldn't exactly blame his alter ego completely either.

He had been so lost in his musings that he nearly collided with his favorite teacher. "Oh, sorry sir. Wasn't watching where I was going." Jackson attempted to apologize and move on, but his teacher motioned for him to follow him into his room. Jackson sighed but figured that this would be the first of many sidetracks he likely was to go on before the day was over, dreading what the next day was going to be like. Mr. Hackington shut the door once he was sure that it was just the two of them in the room. "Now what's all this I hear about you getting married Jackson? It's all over the school. I didn't expect somethin' like that from you of all people – and if anything, I thought you and that Ms. Stein girl were an item… I'm here if you need to talk about things boy."

Jackson sighed and leaned his head back. "I appreciate the offer Mr. Hackington, but I really just need to get through all of this and then I can explain everything to everybody." He said, hoping that would be enough for his teacher.

"Jackson…nothing happened to, well, make this a last resort type thing. You and this other girl didn't get carried away and have something else to consider now do you?" Mr. Hackington attempted to carefully ask, causing Jackson to turn a deep shade of red from embarrassment just at the mention of such a thing.

"Ah..ha…no, nothing like that. No, sir, there's no baby involved. Oh my God…can I go now? Please?" He begged his teacher to let him just run away from this awkward conversation he didn't think he'd be having with his teacher of all people. "Like I said, I can explain later."

Mr. Hackington nodded and looked like he wasn't sure what else to say either, but Jackson took the opportunity to bolt out of the classroom. He knew he wasn't supposed to divulge any information but he had to talk with his parents to be able to know for certain whether or not he could at least tell people it wasn't him actually getting married.

Jackson had been stunned to learn from his father that an old friend of his, Dr. Faustus, was planning the wedding of his son and had requested that the Jekylls attend. Of course his father had accepted and that would have been the end of things until they learned that the groom, only a few years older than Jackson, had decided that Jackson was actually going to be a part of the wedding party. While his mother had gushed over how adorably handsome of a groomsman he would be, his father had been confused and had questioned his friend all the more over why this would be since he and Jackson hadn't met more than a couple of times when they were younger.

Apparently this was as Jackson had told the others, an arranged marriage among his father's friend's family and a sorcerer's family that had been feuding since the Middle Ages when Dr. Faustus's ancestor made a deal that involved the assistance of this family. The success of one half of the partnership, even if that success was due to being both famous and infamous, had fostered some animosity that had the bride's family looking to other well-established sorcerer families for alliances as though they really were still in the Middle Ages.

Luckily, it seemed the bride and groom did at least like each other to the point where they could be a good match for one another. But the groom had no relatives close enough to his own age to take on the role that Jackson had been slotted into, nor any that he wanted to ask, so had chosen Jackson to act as the more diplomatic persona of the bridegroom's party in the hopes that as an outsider he could remain neutral in case things might possibly dissolve into an actual war between the groups attending the wedding. Jackson found himself grateful that he hadn't been asked to be the best man since that title really had more to do with making sure that if the bride's family or their allies decided to back out at the last minute for whatever slight they had felt called for action, he would have to literally fight them off to keep the ceremony from ending long enough to actually have the two be married. Jackson shuddered at the thought, thinking back on how Dr. Faustus had complimented on how favorably having a beserker in his son's party would be looked upon by the other families. Jackson's mother had to kick him under the table to keep him from pointing out how technically he could be considered a beserker with his transformation into Holt, but since historically his alter ego should have had some animal quality, he would have to decline. He had hoped that little detail would have gotten him out of any responsibilities, but the look from his mother as she indicated his father made him be quiet and just do this for his father.

Unfortunately, he had also come to learn that sorcerers had a lot of technicalities and honorifics and customs that he would have to learn and be able to perform with a member of the bride's party. That had been taking up the majority of the past couple of weeks as he and Holt both did their best to put up with things and learn what they needed to do. But the worst part had been the fine print that he had only been informed of after reluctantly agreeing – for all intents and purposes, this position was supposed to be filled by a man who was 'unattached' as the phrasing had been used. If he did have someone he was 'courting' or a wife, then she would have to be symbolically taken under the supervision of the bride's party to be able to perform the duties that the ghoul he had been basically assigned to was going to perform. As much as he wanted to tell Frankie everything, his oath forbade him from sharing any secrets that this family of sorcerer's felt shouldn't be spread around to outsiders. Jackson felt they were paranoid, Holt having said as much to the groom during one meeting to plan the reception. He had been informed of the tension that his parents had felt after their son's less restrained side made such a comment, but luckily the groom felt the same way and he and Holt began to build up a friendship that Jackson was quite enjoying as well. But this all meant that he couldn't say literally anything to the others, especially if Frankie announced her being his girlfriend at the wrong time – he _was_ trying to avoid a war. It also meant that he was spending a larger amount of time with this sorceress than he would have liked, although she seemed pleasant enough. It was the continual strict enforcement of their codes and conducts that she insisted he adhere to during their time together to be able to just do them out of habit on the wedding day that seemed to have done him in with his friends.

Jackson sighed as he tried to make his way through the hallways, attempting to climb up to the roof to take a breather from the looks he was getting and the whispers behind his back as people gossiped over the information that he couldn't outright counter at this point in time due to that ridiculous oath of secrecy he had been tricked into taking. Even Deuce had given him a harsh look, no doubt upset over the confrontation Holt had told him about via their phone last night. He had watched from his window as his friends had been standing around on his lawn for a while but thought it best to stay inside as he listened to the short and to the point recording Holt had left him before leaving Jackson to deal with things.

Jackson moaned as he rounded the corner and spotted Manny who didn't look like he was going to just let him pass without doing or saying something to him. He braced himself for whatever the minotaur had in mind, thinking it couldn't be worse than the awkward conversation with his teacher or the continual avoidance or hurt looks from Frankie.

"Hey Jackson…um…look, I know I've got nothing to say to you but whatever's going on, I think it's…strong…of you to try and keep things together." Manny said awkwardly as he realized he was blocking the way for Jackson and felt like he had to say something. Jackson just looked curiously at him, not sure what had come over his own personal bully. But Manny nervously coughed and just gave him a rough pat on the shoulder as they squeezed past each other in the more narrow corridor than the other hallways. Jackson stood there blinking in dumbfounded confusion at that particular encounter. "This is too weird. Time to go hide." He said, rushing the rest of the way to roof to avoid any more people attempting to give their own advice or comments on the news.

He called his father and explained what had happened, the call not taking much longer than ten minutes or so, but Jackson was reluctant to head back inside and actually go to class. He wasn't one for skipping any class, but he didn't think he could possibly finish the rest of the day with things the way they were. As it was, he was hoping that he could skip the next day too and go straight to getting the ceremony over and done with so he could attempt to pick up whatever was left of his life. He paced the roof a few times to try and keep himself as calm as possible as he waited for his mother to come pick him up.

He paused as he heard what sounded like someone crying higher up from the bell tower, debating on how to get away without letting this other person know he had stumbled upon them when it was obvious whoever it was needed some privacy too. He backed away from the tower and looked up to see if he could spot who it was, but before he could do anything the bell rang. It did so every now and then on the hour, although when it would decide to actually ring was often a surprise to the students. Evidently this was another surprise as the person he had been trying to see against the glare of the sun was startled and slipped. Jackson rushed forward to catch whoever it was careless enough to not notice where they were standing, especially in the bell tower.

"Omphf…" Jackson grunted as he caught the person as best he could, stopping any further falling motion from off the edge of the roof. However, he wasn't able to keep them both upright, falling onto his back to keep from getting too close to the edge. "Are you alright?" he asked as they both caught their breath, Jackson noticing for the first time that it was none other than Frankie.

"Yeah, yeah…I think I'm okay. The bell just spooked me and I…Jackson?" she said, lifting her head up as she looked over at her savior. She stared at him in disbelief for a moment, neither of them moving from their position on top of one another as they lay on the roof. "Jackson what are you doing up here?!" she yelled at him.

"Saving you apparently. Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbows a little since she hadn't gotten up off of him yet.

"I...no...I'm not alright and you know darn well why I'm not." She said, smacking him in the chest harder than he would have expected her to, although he guessed in her confused state she was more than expected to be upset with him. But she looked at him as he let her smack him a couple of times before she collapsed on top of him again unexpectedly, causing him to drop back onto his back again. He did his best to comfort her, remaining silent as she cried into his chest.

"Frankie…I know you're mad and you don't understand what's going on, but please, just trust me when I say that I'm just trying to keep you safe." Jackson said once she had calmed down to the point of just resting with him as her cushion. "I promise I'll explain everything later. You know I'm not fond of the dramatics either – it's like we're in some sort of Shakespearean play – but I will explain. I just…can't right now." He said to her, hoping that she might be able to hear the desperation in his voice for her to believe what she was being told.

"Jackson. I don't understand anything. Please just talk to me – I don't think I can handle you dragging whatever this thing is out. I have a right to know." She said, snuggling into his chest despite her anger at him. "I just…don't think I can trust you or Holt at this point." She said to him, causing him to hold onto her a little harder.

"Then do what you said you liked to do – listen to my heartbeat. You can tell when I'm lying." He said, Frankie sniffling but nevertheless letting her head rest over his heart so that she could hear it. He took a deep breath to think over what he could say to her, Frankie remaining still on his chest no doubt waiting for him to say something and act as the lie detector should his heartbeat change too drastically. "I love you Frankie and I promise you that when I say I can't, it's not because I want to keep anything from you. By the end of the week, this will all be over and you and I can…" he tried to explain to her without actually saying anything about the wedding to her. The sorcerers would know immediately if he broke his oath and he didn't want to find out what might happen if he screwed that up. But Frankie shook her head against his chest, pulling away to look at him.

"Jackson. It doesn't matter if you do think you love me – doing this to me isn't how you show you love someone." She said, finally getting up and storming away from Jackson. "This whole wedding fiasco…how can you even think that anything could go back to what we had after that. It's impossible – you'll be with her!" she said, her anger coming back full force despite Jackson's attempts to get in a word between the brief pauses she took.

"But Frankie…" Jackson tried again, "No, Frankie, trust me. I'm not the one…I'll tell you Monday. Just a few more days and then…" he said, but Frankie waved him off.

"No Jackson. I'm not going to be like that – arranged marriage or not, anything 'on the side' isn't right." She said, sparks emitting from her bolts. Jackson growled in frustration at his inability to just blurt out how ludicrous everything was and to tell her everything to get her to laugh, smile, or anything other than how she was looking at him. "It's not what it seems. I can't tell you but believe me!" he said, voice rising along with hers. Frankie shook her head and turned abruptly away from him, walking across the roof to the doorway back inside, leaving Jackson standing there in his frustration.

* * *

It seemed that Jackson was able to find a way to leave without anyone else stopping him, and the group sitting together at lunch found that they couldn't help but make him the topic of conversation. Frankie told them about her confrontation with him on the roof, but had otherwise remained silent for the remainder of lunch and the rest of the day. The next day, no one spotted Jackson or Holt anywhere in school, assuming he must have decided that he wasn't up for another day of awkward looks and questioning. By the end of the day, Frankie found herself unable to be quite as cheerful as Cleo was demanding of her in their fearleading practice.

"Come on Frankie!" Cleo prodded her friend into putting on a fake smile while performing a few routines. "It's just so that when we do actually perform in front of people, you can't help but smile. No grimaces or whatever that look is on your face!" she complained, Ghoulia sighing at the mummy's attempts to get her friend to move past Jackson and Holt.

"I'm trying Cleo!" Frankie huffed, throwing down her pompoms in her frustration. "This isn't exactly the best time for me to be all smiles but here you go!" she sarcastically said, going through the motions with a painfully fake smile plastered on her face.

"Okay, okay, enough!" Draculaura said to get Frankie to stop, Clawdeen also wincing at the spectacle Frankie was putting on as she was dealing with her haywire emotions. Clawd, Deuce and Heath had also gotten sidetracked from their practice by the overly dramatic and flamboyant gestures Frankie was making while Cleo stood there unsure of what to do for her friend. They pulled away from the rest of the team to get closer, but Frankie didn't seem to want to listen to her friends who were now concerned she might do some damage to herself in losing limbs or even to her charge level based on the amount of sparks and jolts she was sending out rapidly.

"Hey! Come on, Frankie. Don't be like this." Deuce said, grabbing onto her mid-twirl to get her to calm down. "You're gonna hurt yourself." He said, easing her back over to the bleachers so she could sit down next to Ghoulia. The zombie wrapped an arm around their friend before moaning something and handing her phone over to Frankie to look at.

"What's goin' on over here?" Gil asked as he and Lagoona walked over from the entrance, Lagoona's hair still dripping a little water as they met up with their friends from swimming practice. Cleo and the others noticed the time and realized that it was later than they had thought, having focused on their sports to try and take their mind off of their friend.

"Frankie's not doing very well." Abbey said from her spot beside Cleo as she had opted to try and learn a little of the next routine in case Frankie wasn't emotionally ready to perform for their next game. Luckily it seemed that there had been a scheduling conflict with another school and Monster High's team would actually be playing the next week rather than the next day, giving them all a chance to recover a little.

Lagoona sighed and gave a sympathetic nod, watching as Ghoulia tried to coax Frankie into reading whatever she had pulled up on her phone. "Fine Ghoulia. What is it?" Frankie sighed, taking the phone and scrolling through the page before gasping.

"This is a news clip of the upcoming wedding. It's supposed to be this Sunday in the next town over – oh, it's in that gorgeous cathedral. Look at how it's all decorated and everything…" Frankie said, making a whining noise as she looked over what apparently was the setting of anyone's fantasy wedding but made a nightmare for her. "There he is at the rehearsal with that girl." She said, showing the pictures to the others to look at.

"Who knew Jackson's marriage was going to attract so much attention?" Clawd said as he read over his sister's shoulder. "I mean, this is a big deal for the town considering how much they expect to get out of it with all the guests…or so the journalist seemed to think. But there's no names, not even for the pictures." He said, finding that odd.

"Guess he wasn't kidding about things needing to be kept quiet." Heath sighed, sitting on the bleachers too and leaning his head onto his arms he propped against his knees, looking gloomy too. "I wish I knew why he couldn't tell anybody anything." He said, the others silently agreeing with him.

"Hey, it says this big wedding is supposed to be this Sunday at one…we could head over and try to talk with him before the ceremony begins." Draculaura said, already envisioning a dramatic entrance for Frankie to swoop in and object to the marriage at just the right time like she had read about and seen in various movies. "He did say he couldn't tell you until the end of this week…technically before the ceremony is still the end of the week." She said, not heeding the looks Abbey was trying to send her to get her to stop giving Frankie any ideas.

"Why bother?" Frankie mumbled, not looking too enthused with the idea of having him reject her all over again. "But it's worth a shot. At least to let everyone know how much of a jerk he's been to me or something. Maybe he really will talk to me then though, and I should try and be more understanding – maybe he'll decide to not go through with it!" she said, voice sounding more and more hopeful as she went, standing up to emphasize her last thought to the others. "Will you guys come with me?" she asked, looking around at her friends and noticing their hesitant faces. "Come on, please? Just, stay with me until we get to the church and then I'll…I'll…I'll come up with something." she said, trying to encourage her friends not to let her handle this alone. Seeing her success, she gave a real smile and hugged Draculaura for her idea. Now all she had to think about was how to get through the rest of Saturday thinking of what she wanted to say to him to get him to reconsider.

* * *

Sunday arrived both too quickly and too slowly for Frankie as she and the others piled into two cars to make the trip. It wasn't more than an hour away, but getting there might be difficult if the article was anything to go by in its suggestion to avoid traveling on the main roads to not hit the traffic such a large ceremony was going to produce. Therefore, they ended up taking a few side roads and dealing with the panic at not finding their destination as easily as they planned. They arrived at the church a quarter before one, hoping that there would be just enough time to talk with their friend. But they found that the entrances were all guarded by gargoyles that definitely looked like they meant business in preventing anyone not invited inside.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Cleo complained from her position beside Deuce. "Did you happen to have anything including escaping guards as part of your plan Frankie?" she asked, but Frankie had already slipped away from the large group and was creeping alongside the wall to try and find a window open enough for her hand to get through and fully open for them.

"Good thinking. If we can find one close enough to side rooms where Jackson should be, then maybe we can just talk to him through window." Abbey said, attempting to jump a little higher to see through the stained glass. "Uh oh, church looks filled already. Cannot see Jackson but I think ceremony already started." She said, the others hushing immediately to try and hear anything of what was being said.

"I thought the article said one?" Dracularua asked, looking to the others to confirm that it wasn't just her who had thought that was what they had read that as the time.

"I guess that's what the journalist was told to keep people from interfering." Clawd said in response. "I wonder how far along they are though…"

Frankie jumped a little too like Abbey had done, but was obviously panicking at not being able to see anything. Cleo motioned for Deuce to help her and the two of them gave her a boost so that she could get her hand inside the miniscule crack of the window to pry it open. She finally succeeded and they could all hear what was going on. "I still can't see the altar. There are too many people in front of this window." Frankie whispered to her friends. But she paused when she heard the priest say the words she had been dreading but knew were inevitable at a wedding – 'I now pronounce you man and wife'. Her eyes widened and she felt her knees buckle and thankfully Clawd and Gil had stood behind her and were able to catch her as she slipped out of Cleo's and Deuce's hold. They righted her and immediately Draculaura and Clawdeen were there for her to lean into as she sobbed as quietly as she could so as to not give them away to the gargoyles and have them have to deal with them too.

"Come on Frankie, let's head back to my house. We can hang out together for a while, okay?" Cleo suggested, her arms wrapped around her own boyfriend as she tried to comprehend what her friend must be going through at the moment. She knew she got a little overprotective of her own boyfriend at even the slightest thought that he might be interested in any other girl, and couldn't imagine what she would be like if Deuce was to get married to another girl she hadn't even been aware of so suddenly.

Frankie nodded and the group made their way back to their car, pretty much carrying Frankie back. Once they returned to Cleo's house, they all did their best to help Frankie feel a little better by doing things they knew she loved to do. At one point Frankie's phone buzzed to let her know she had gotten a text, but she tossed her phone aside upon realizing it was the icon Holt used when texting her. Several more texts followed that night, a few even from Jackson as the early morning hours started to roll around and Frankie found herself still unable to fall asleep. She had been grateful that Deuce had been kind enough to drop her off at her house the first time she asked, but she was regretting how lonely she was beginning to feel. But she resisted the temptation to read whatever it was that Jackson or Holt had sent to her. By the time she should have been getting ready for school she was starting to fall asleep and her mother allowed her to stay home alone to try and get some sleep. Frankie hadn't told her parents what was going on with her boyfriend, but her mother seemed to understand she wasn't able to face school that day.

The others weren't too surprised to find Frankie had opted not to go to school, but by lunchtime, they were surprised to see Jackson racing over to them. "Whoa! What are you doing here dude? We thought you would've been on your honeymoon or somethin'" Deuce said. He wasn't too thrilled about all that had happened but Jackson was his friend and he was trying to be a nice guy, giving him a chance to fulfill his promise of explaining even if some of the others weren't enthusiastic about letting Jackson talk with them just yet.

"Ugh. I'm not married!" Jackson practically shouted to them, startling them all with his tone and by what he had said.

"But we went to the church and everything, man. Explain." Heath said in confusion, having been unable to keep himself from blurting everything out to his parents. Needless to say, there weren't entirely sure of what to say and being unable to contact Jackson and Holt's parents, they had advised Heath to just wait until he had all the details before jumping to conclusions – although he was sure his mother was just as anxious to get all the details too.

"Look. I couldn't tell you because I was under a sorcerer's oath of secrecy. Believe me, I would have loved to complain about all the stupid stuff I had to go through as a groomsman, but breaking that oath could have led to all sorts of things that wouldn't have been altogether pleasant, to put it lightly." He said, collapsing into one of the chairs to talk with his friends. He wasn't actually planning on going to school at all, since he hadn't been able to get to sleep until four in the morning. But he knew he needed to talk face-to-face with his friends based on how they were all pretty much ignoring his calls or texts – even Heath, although he hoped that was more because of his cousin's typical forgetful nature and he simply hadn't remembered to turn his phone back on.

"What?!" the girls shouted, not expecting that sort of an explanation. Jackson rolled his eyes before beginning to elaborate some more. "Come on guys. What makes you seriously think that I would get married right now? Never mind… Like I said, I was a part of the wedding party for one of my dad's friend's _son's_ wedding. He sprung this on me 'cuz he needed someone closer to his age than the man who would have been given the part, and he wanted someone more neutral since war was an actual possible outcome if things didn't go just right." He explained, running a hand through his hair.

"Whoa, seriously, bro?" Clawd asked, wide-eyed at Jackson's explanation. "I've read about sorcerer wars – they tend to happen a lot but they don't last much longer than a few months 'cuz they're that brutal…you got involved in all that?" Clawd asked in awe of his friend. Jackson rolled his eyes but nodded at the werewolf's question.

"Yes. That's why I was so secretive and with that sorceress – she and I were basically fulfilling the same role for the couple and so we needed to get to know one another. And she had to teach me not to mess anything up." Jackson said, taking the water Gil offered him with a grateful smile before downing the tiny bottle. "I couldn't bring Frankie otherwise she would've had to take on the girl's role and physically she couldn't – no magic. I barely was able to pull off my responsibilities without magical abilities thanks to Gwendolynn's carrying me through the motions. I didn't want her to get involved and get her hurt if things took a turn for the worse." He explained.

"She's not doing so well right now Jackson." Cleo said in response to his unspoken question about the whereabouts and wellbeing of his girlfriend. "She's at home"

Jackson sighed and stood up from the group. "I need to talk with her – none of you would answer your phones so I'm guessing she didn't read any of mine or Holt's texts either." He said, the others looking guilty at Jackson calling them out on their hostile behavior. Jackson waved a goodbye to them before taking off.

"Man, I hope she's willing to listen to him right now." Heath said. "You've seen how he reacts to even the slightest thing that he thinks might jeopardize his relationship with Frankie. After all of this, who knows what either of them might do if they're not thinking straight." He said, looking to Abbey in the hopes that she might disagree with his cause for concern. But his girlfriend seemed to also consider his words carefully, although she gave him a tiny smile in the hopes that the two of them will once again let their caring natures help each other to understand the other.

* * *

Jackson ran up to the front door of Frankie's house, banging on the door. He saw that there were no cars in the driveway and hoped that meant that there wasn't anyone else home. He sighed and banged on the door again to try and get Frankie to at the very least, open the door to yell at him to stop banging. He figured he could take it from there – it was just getting her to open the door that he was worried about.

Frankie jerked the door open and stood in the doorway, mouth open and ready to yell at the rude visitor before pausing to take in who it was at her door. She closed her mouth and glared at Jackson. "Just give me a chance to explain – I told you I would." Jackson pleaded. But Frankie huffed and made to slam the door, Jackson only able to keep it open just barely, wincing at the weight placed onto his foot and shoulder as he pushed the door open. Frankie made an annoyed noise but Jackson didn't hesitate to pull her into a hug.

"Frankie please just let me explain. I need to tell you everything that's been happening and it'll all make sense. I'm finally able to tell you and you need to know…" Jackson began to say, holding her to him. But Frankie cut him off with a kick to his shin that allowed her to squirm further out of his embrace to look at his face.

"I don't care what you have to say at this point Jackson – you or Holt." Frankie said. "I went to the cathedral and I heard everything. Leave me alone." She cried, looking distraught. Jackson pulled her to him again, holding her affectionately as he kept her from moving away.

"I told you before that I love you and I would never do anything to hurt you." Jackson tried to break into his explanation softly, knowing that Frankie had been just as upset over this as he had been, although without the benefit of knowing all the details.

"I've heard all this before. I don't care what your heartbeat has to do with this. For all I care, I'll never listen to it again." Frankie said, succeeding in pulling completely out if his hold to get farther away from him. She pulled out her phone as Jackson stood there unsure of what to say next to her after such a harsh statement coming from Frankie. She fumbled around with it to try and get rid of all the texts she had waiting for her there but in her haste and blurry vision from her tears, she only succeeded in getting the playlist Holt had put on her phone for her to go off. Jackson sucked in a sharp breath as he transformed, Holt standing there in her living room looking around to take in where he was now. Seeing Frankie he went to do the same thing as Jackson, but Frankie took the short amount of time that happened each time he transformed from one personality to the other to gather himself to push him out of the house, slamming the door in his face successfully this time. "I don't want to see you anymore Holt." She yelled out to him as she locked the door.

"Frankie-Fine. Let me talk with you. I can explain." Holt said, pounding hard on the door while Frankie pushed on it with her back in her fear that the Hyde side of their personality might use that enhanced strength to break the door down. "Please Frankie. I didn't want to keep things secret from ya! I swear it was only 'cuz I had to – I'm not the one who got married. Honest Frankie. Let me in…Frankie…"Holt pleaded with the girl, but Frankie couldn't bring herself to talk with Holt. He stopped banging on the door and she thought he had gone away until her phone rang and she saw that it was him calling her. She glared at him from her window and let him know that she wasn't listening to what he had to say as she slammed the phone onto the table in front of the window for him to see and walked away. She heard the voicemail go off and decided that she should probably say something. She went to the window and picked up her phone, but Holt wasn't anywhere she could see him.

Sighing, Frankie sat down on the couch to read the numerous texts that both personalities had sent to her, piecing together the story that Jackson had told to the others. She felt terrible that she hadn't been as patient as she always tried to be, but the last voicemail really had her concerned. Holt explained things to her again but the last few things he said gave her an uneasy feeling – "These sorcerers were a bunch of Shakespearean-like guys with all those rules and fancy talk. But I guess that they're right about those plays ending in tragedies – I was sorta hopin' it might be more of a comedy for us…I'm sorry Frankie, I was just tryin' to protect ya…but I'll do anything for you, just like you asked. You won't see me again."

Frankie dropped the phone in her surprise at the tone of Holt's voice before scrambling to pick it up and to call the others as fast as she could. She checked the time as the phone rang, realizing that school had been over for twenty minutes by this point so they should have been able to talk with her. She was relieved when Cleo picked up though and she launched into a quick recap of what had happened.

"So now I'm worried about not being able to find him after listening to his last message. Can we split up and try to find him before Holt does something stupid that both he and Jackson will regret? Please guys, I can't do this alone." Frankie pleaded with her.

"Breathe Frankie. Deuce and I are coming over right now with Ghoulia. I'll text the others and we can all start searching his usual spots okay. We'll find him." Cleo said in an attempt to calm her friend. Frankie sighed but told her she would be waiting out in front of her house before hanging up and waiting to go after her boyfriend.

* * *

After not finding him in his usual spots, the group decided to head back to the school to see if he might have doubled back at some point in their search. It had only been about an hour, but they were hoping to have found him by now. Heath had called his aunt to see if Holt had been back home and had learned that he had come home not that long ago, more willingly transforming back into Jackson and that Jackson had then taken off again in his car. She didn't know where he intended to go, but assumed he was just heading out to get some time with his friends. Heath did his best to not let her know right away that they were worried about him unless they needed to call them for help, knowing how Jackson's dad might get and not sure if they could deal with another Hyde at the moment.

Arriving at the school, they spotted Jackson's car in the parking lot, although it wasn't parked like Jackson would normally have done. Instead of the meticulous mad scientist's care to detail, the car was taking up two spots and looked like it had only barely been kept on the asphalt.

"Oh, he's got to be around here somewhere." Frankie said, calling out to Jackson a few times. "Maybe we should split up, check the maze and the cemetery and then head back here to check the entrances to the catacombs." She suggested, the others nodding along in their haste to go find their friend. The guys headed over to the cemetery while the girls checked out the maze as quickly as they could, meeting back up in the parking lot a half-hour later breathless but without any success.

"Alright mates, let's check the catacombs. That one we shouldn't split up in Frankie – it'll be safer for everybody to stick together." Lagoona said as Clawd and Deuce pried open one of the manhole covers that lead into the catacombs. Frankie nodded, remaining silent but taking the lead with Heath to search. They periodically called out for Jackson, assuming that it was still him since Holt didn't seem to want to be out right now with the way he felt. They weren't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, considering how whenever Holt felt upset they could at least find him based on the amount of damage or noise he was making or producing from those he frightened. But Jackson tended to be more silent in his brooding, leading to more dramatic and less predictable decisions that resulted in them still not having found their friend yet.

"Guys we're heading down towards the water. If we haven't found him in here yet, we're probably not going to." Clawdeen said, eying the underground docks that Operetta often tied her boat to when she traveled along the river. Seeing no boat there, she had assumed the phantom was up to some more practicing on her organ, although it didn't seem like there were the usual faint echoes she and her brother could hear when that happened.

"Heath, I hate to ask…but do you think you could actually make a larger flame?" Draculaura asked warily, knowing the trouble Heath could unintentionally cause with his overzealous nature. But Heath decided to let the jibe slip and did as asked with nothing more than his usual – "I got this" – illuminating a little more of the cavern.

"Hey, there is boat over there." Abbey said, pointing to where she saw the boat. But Gil and Lagoona gasped as they looked at the water. "Guys, keep away from the edge. That whitish stuff on the surface isn't foam from the water." Gil said, pulling Frankie away from the edge. He looked to Lagoona who was also looking concerned. "I think it's jellyfish season right now for the catacombs – they're not usually so big down here except for a couple of times a year when they come closer to the surface of the water. These monster jellyfish have a nasty sting for those not of the water variety – even then it still itches for us." He explained.

"Well then how are we supposed to get to the boat to see if Jackson's over there?" Frankie asked, calling out Jackson's name again. She looked to her friends, unsure of what to do at this point. Dracularua sighed. "I'll see if I can see anything. Vampires can see pretty good in the dark, but I can't make any guarantees." She said before transforming into a bat and flying over to the boat. But instead of flying back over, she instead transformed to stand in the boat.

"He's in here but I think he's unconscious…there's a weird mark on his arms." She said, grabbing at the oars to try and row the both of them back. A few strokes into rowing and their questioning of the mark was explained as a large, white, thin, whispy tentacle-like limb reached over the side of the boat briefly, causing Dracularua to scream.

"Stop rowing!" Lagoona shouted to her. "You're upsetting the jellyfish. It's only trying to stop what it thinks is an attack." She said, Draculaura shrinking in on herself to sit in the middle of the boat to keep away from the strands.

"What do I do then?" she shouted over to her friends. "Jackson's not moving at all guys. We should get him out of here." She said.

"What if you only row a couple of times and then stop?" Abbey asked, wondering if going slow would help keep the jellyfish from being startled again. Lagoona was about to respond when Gil decided to leap into the water.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled after him, but he obviously couldn't hear her. Lagoona looked frantic at her boyfriend's hasty decision but he resurfaced shortly over by the boat. "Gil, you better have a really good idea or so help me, those stings are going to be nothing when I slap you." Lagoona threatened her boyfriend.

"Relax. If I swim alongside them, they're not going to do anything – I don't think." Gil said, pushing the boat a little and grunting from the effort. "It's the movement of the oars disrupting the water from the surface they don't like." He said, Draculaura pulling the oars back into the boat and turning into a bat again so that Gil wouldn't have to deal with her weight either. It was slow going, but faster than their other plan likely would have been.

Deuce and Clawd grabbed the edges of the boat and pulled it the rest of the way to the dock, allowing Gil to climb out of the water and catch his breath. As promised, Lagoona gave him a smack on the shoulder but kissed him too. "That was very brave of you Gil." She said, Gil smiling at her.

Heath and Frankie attempted to maneuver Jackson out of the boat and onto the docks while the Deuce and Clawd held it steady. "Jellyfish stings are not fatal to humans, right?" Clawdeen asked, Ghoulia typing away at her phone before answering that it would depend on the kind of jellyfish but if he was unconscious, then the neurotoxins were probably enough to put him out like anesthesia.

Pulling Jackson back onto the rocky floor, Frankie began to look him over. Placing her head on his chest she could hear him breathing regularly. "He's just unconscious. But we should do something about the marks on his arms." She said as Heath lifted his cousin on to his back to carry him out piggy-back style.

"Bring him over to my place. I'm sure there's something there we can use to make sure that the stuff the stingers got onto his arms is taken care of completely." Frankie said, Heath walking over to Deuce's car with her and Deuce, Frankie also following.

Getting back to Frankie's, Ghoulia read off the possible treatments for jellyfish stings this severe and Jackson seemed to be doing fine after the marks were treated. Luckily they avoided having to speak with Frankie's parents since they weren't home, although Frankie supposed that might have had something to do with her own disappearance without a note.

Once Jackson was resting on her couch, she called her parents to let them know what was up. Her father was not pleased with her running off the way she did, but told her they were heading home once they stopped to the market to get something to eat. "Okay guys. Thanks for the help but I think you should probably head home too – it's getting late." She said, the others reluctant to head out but understanding her point. They waved goodbye, all except for Heath.

"I should probably stick around a little while to help walk him back home or something." he said. "His car is still at the school after all" Heath said, Frankie sighing as she thought about that detail.

"No, I'll make sure he gets home." She said, walking Heath to the door. "See if Clawd can drop you off at your house. I'll call you later, okay?" Frankie asked, giving Heath a hug which the elemental returned. "Okay Frankie. You talk to him first." Heath said, picking up on her inner battle over how to talk to Jackson. She waved goodbye to the others before heading back inside to wait for her parents or for Jackson to wake up. She sat on the floor next to him, resting her head on his chest in the closest way she could cuddle with him as he lay out on her couch without actually moving him. She felt horrible for the nasty things she said to him as he was finally trying to explain, ashamed at her behavior. She loved to be with Jackson and hearing his slow heartbeat as he slept reaffirmed how much she cared for him. Frankie didn't move from her seat on the floor, listening to make sure her boyfriend remained fine. But eventually, he did begin to stir and Frankie held him closer to her.

"Mmph…what…Frankie?" Jackson mumbled, still partly asleep. "What are you doing?" he asked her, attempting to sit up but Frankie didn't move.

"I'm listening to your heartbeat." Frankie said, looking up at her boyfriend's sleepy face and smiling at him. Jackson looked confused as he tried to think about whatever it was that he had missed.

"I thought you didn't want to hear it anymore." Jackson said as he woke up a little more. Frankie shook her head, closing her eyes as she tried to think of how to apologize to him. "I was trying to help you with that" he said to her, causing her eyes to shoot open again.

"I was going to find the passage with those old portals in them and try to get one to open up to the sorcerer's realm again. One of the men at the wedding told me how much a "beserker" is coveted, especially as an apprentice – I was going to see if his offer was still any good." Jackson said, not looking at Frankie anymore. "Beserkers often are on the front lines in their battles though. I probably wouldn't have lasted very long anyway." He said, sighing a little.

"No, Jackson. Don't even think about such a thing." Frankie said, afraid to move in case he should decide to leave before she was able to fully say everything she needed to say. She could hear how his heartbeat quickened at her refusal of his idea, hearing how hopeful he was about what she might say to him.

"I finally got around to actually reading all your texts and hearing Holt's voicemail – you scared me. Both now and during those horrible two weeks." Frankie began her apology. "I don't want to lose you Jackson, nor Holt. I thought that there was going to be no chance for us after all of this and I couldn't understand why you weren't fighting back against this stupid thing. But I'm sorry too. I should have given you some credit." Frankie said, finally lifting her head off of his chest after hearing his heart begin to beat faster. "Please forgive me." She said, holding his hand.

Jackson smiled and eased himself up into a sitting position on the couch, not letting go of her hand. "I forgive you if you forgive me for having to keep you in the dark." He said, Frankie smiling and straightening up from her kneeling position on the floor to kiss him. Jackson eagerly returned it, not having had the opportunity to kiss his girlfriend for the past couple of weeks. "Does this mean I'm forgiven too?" he asked as Frankie pulled away, laughing at him and nodding as she got up to sit beside him.

"You know, as much as I felt bad about things and…what was said…Holt feels probably twice as bad." Jackson said. "I don't want to let go so soon but with that part of me still so…" Jackson began to say until Frankie cut him off with another kiss. "I understand Jackson, and I think that's a good idea. Better sooner rather than later." She said, getting up to go grab her phone. Sitting back down beside him and giving him another quick kiss she was about to press play on the music when a thought stopped her.

"Frankie…what's wrong?" Jackson asked as he absently rubbed at the red marks on his arms. Frankie gently slapped his hands to get him to stop. "You'll irritate the jellyfish stings if you do that." She said, Jackson's eyes widening as he remembered what happened. "So that's what that was – man that hurt like crazy. Couldn't see it in the dark though…oh man, did I faint or something?" he said, looking embarrassed. Frankie giggled but nodded, giggling again as Jackson covered his face with his hands briefly before smiling at her.

"But back to our conversation…why don't you want to trigger Holt? We can wait a little longer, but I'm carrying his baggage around in the back of my mind and it's not particularly happy right now Frankie." He said, taking her hand. Frankie swallowed as she thought about what he said to her, knowing that while separate they weren't completely blocked off personalities and she knew that she had to fix things completely with all parts of her boyfriend.

"I know, it's just…my parents are going to be here any minute and if they find me alone with Holt…." She trailed off, Jackson nodding in understanding. While Frankie's father seemed to not overly mind the fact that she was dating him rather than building her own boyfriend, he did have a larger issue with his more rambunctious side. After the emotional distress Frankie had been through, he understood that Mr. Stein might not be too pleased to see either of them, but especially Holt.

"Okay…um…we can wait a little while after they get here before triggering him as we leave." Jackson said. "By the way, how am I getting home if my car isn't here?" he asked as the thought just occurred to him. Frankie winced as he came to the realization that they had left his car at the school. "My dad's going to have to drive you or your parents can come pick you up…" she suggested.

"I think I'll call my mom." Jackson said, pulling out his phone. "No offense Frankie but that might be the safer option for me tonight." He said, Frankie smiling in agreement as she got up to check out the window while he talked to his mother. After he hung up, Frankie sat back down on the couch, reclining against Jackson.

"I didn't mean what I said about not wanting to ever hear your heartbeat again…I didn't mean it for you to go away or do something….else…" Frankie said, placing her head against his chest again. Jackson rubbed her back as they lay there, remaining silent as Frankie indulged in making sure that her boyfriend was really staying with her in every sense of the word. She placed a hand on his chest as she relaxed against him, feeling his heartbeat begin to pick up as they heard a car pull up. She giggled a little at Jackson's reaction.

"Relax Jackson. My dad won't kill you…at least not permanently." She teased him as she kept her voice as serious as possible, hearing his heartbeat pounding. "Geez, I was only kidding. Seriously, relax, your heart's racing." She said, although she didn't move off him despite his attempts to get her to move. But Frankie remained where she was, taking delight in hearing his heartbeat for a few seconds longer until she heard the front door lock begin to unlock. "I don't know Jackson – maybe I should scare you more often. I kinda like hearing your heartbeat getting faster and faster." She teased him, Jackson rolling his eyes but still making sure to put some distance between himself and Frankie before Mr. and Mrs. Stein saw them.

Frankie's dad, as expected, was not too thrilled about seeing the cause of his daughter's recent anxiety sitting in his living room, but Frankie and Jackson hurriedly explained everything to him. While it seemed to placate her father only a little more than giving him justification for terrorizing Jackson, her mother seemed to find the whole thing rather romantic and humorous now that everything was said and done. Luckily Jackson's mother showed up at just the right time it seemed and Frankie walked him out.

"I'll call Holt later tonight." She said as they stood at the end of the driveway before Jackson got in the car. "It's not as good as talking with him face-to-face, but it's better than making him wait until tomorrow at school." She said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, Jackson blushing as his mother watched from the car.

"Sounds good. I really am sorry about all of this." Jackson said again, smiling sheepishly at Frankie. But Frankie laughed. "Nah….weddings aren't such a bad thing after all." She said, giving him a small smile before turning and heading back inside.

"Frankie? Wait, Frankie!" Jackson called after her, a little panicked at what she might have been implying. But Frankie simply waved from her doorway at Jackson as his mother popped open the door and called for him to stop wasting time and get inside. He did so and Frankie thought that while marriage was definitely not something they were ready for at their ages, getting to that date at the theater Jackson had promised her sounded like a pretty good place to pick up.


End file.
